Transformation through Time Management

What

This year, I feel excited that I have gained excellent knowledge in time management, critical thinking, and research abilities.

Time management is a topic I studies in week two. It enhances my ability to record my personal growth and successes, reflect on my achievements, state my objectives, and, more importantly, plan the actions required to meet. I have the confidence of 9/10 in this skill. This topic was fascinating since, in my life, I have been having busy schedules and sometimes failing to meet deadlines. Therefore, I am excited that I now find it easy to balance studies, work, and familial roles from learning this subject. Also my leadership and management skills have been developed significantly. Throughout my studies, I also realized that everything was being done in time with time management skills, and I could also work diligently on schoolwork. I have a schedule for each day thus my planning skills, decision making skills and ‍delegating skills have been significantly improved. I was also able to develop a weekly plan which has enabled me to study all subjects with equal efforts, and I am now courageous that I will be successful in my course. Moreover, from the reading list provided, I also observed that time management was critical in planning, prioritizing tasks, eliminating distractions, and rewarding myself for good work (Burns & Sinfield, 2012; Gallagher, 2016).

Also, I learned that this skill is critical for my studies since it promoted task periodization and created enough time to complete my tasks and project (Allan, 2009). Moreover, the study reveals that effective time management enabled the student to complete more in less time since it promotes focusing and creates little time wastage. Also, from my reading, I came across the Parkinson's Law, which suggests that work expands to fill the time available for its completion (Mantis, 2017). Therefore, setting time for every task ensured timely completion. However, I learned that prioritization was critical and required critical thinking skills. was Also, for my periodization of the task, the ABC Method by Alan Lakein was very crucial as it enabled me to differentiate: A – must do, B-should do, and C- nice to do (Dumitrașcu et al., 2021). I have been successful in time management, developing self-discipline, being more efficient, and prioritizing from time management topics. However, I have also noticed that, while developing my skills, I also had challenges like failing to prioritize, beginning my day late, creating ineffectively scheduling tasks, procrastinating, inability to manage distractions, and sometimes prioritizing the wrong task. However, over time, I have reduced these challenges. Similarly, I also had some setbacks like the inability to maintain my routine and friends' visits, thus distracting my scheduled and unplanned roles from family. From these setbacks, I have always learned to form the proper habits and create more time by doing double duty and reducing sleeping time to six hours per day (Allan, 2009). Besides the challenges, I have also realized opportunities in opportunities knowledge obtained from the course, Avoid the big "day wasters and Identify your most productive time.

Another impressive skill is critical thinking, where I have mastered analysis, explanation, open-mindedness, interpretation, inference, self-regulation, and problem-solving. I have a confidence level of 8/10 in these skills. From this course, I realized that reasoning was not an easy task as I thought. However, through this course, I am excited since I can think critically, promote academic integrity, and control my writing. More importantly, I have realized that this course has significantly Improve my writing and reflective skills. Likewise, I learned to apply critical thinking in my studies, structure argument, and reflect on my skills. Thus it is an excellent opportunity for me in my career since it enabled me develop reflection skills, evaluation skills and inference skills. This new learning is also reflected in my week 17 portfolio, where I clearly state that I learned to apply Critical thinking in everyday life. Moreover, from the course material, I have also learned that critical thinking promotes language and presentation skills (Ramsay et al., 2010). From this learning, I realized that I can now think systematically and clearly, and I have improved the way I express my ideas.

Moreover, I have also realized that critical thinking skills enable me to see beyond cultural norms and learn how to understand each other. Also, while listening to lecture notes, I realized that I could effectively develop my critical thinking skills by practicing balanced thinking, exercise mental and emotional moderation, promoting disciplined, and expressing richer emotional intelligence. At my personal reading, I also encounter Bloom's Taxonomy model of thinking. I realized that thinking involves knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Köksal & Ulum, 2018). Therefore, I have always learned to remember, understand, apply, analyses, evaluate and create a structured argument. From this skill, I realized that I successfully structured my answer and work, writing style, and argument- critical writing skills. Some of the challenges I encountered include social conditioning, drone mentality, and unwarranted assumptions or lack of relevant information (Elder & Paul, 2020). Also, I have realized that critical thinking needs calmness. However, some level of intolerance is the most significant setback in my skill development. However, I have an opportunity since this course knowledge has advanced my knowledge, and there are various theories like Bloom’s Taxonomy and Paul’s Model (Webster, 2018).

Furthermore, research skills additional skills, which I have realized to be very exciting and essential. I have a confidence level of 9/10 in this skill. From the course, I have learned to check my sources- evaluating information and determine its reliability and context. Also, I have learned to ask good questions and understand the text better. Moreover, I have knowledge in finding resources and reading skills. Also, I have mastered using resources like search engines, meta-search engines, specialist search engines, library catalogs, and specific journals. From the portfolio, I have indicated that the course has helped me improve my research abilities and good note-making. Moreover, from the reading list, I have known to research to answer a question or a solution to a problem (Allan, 2009). Besides, from this study, I have learned to gather information concerning my topic, review that information, and analyze and interpret the data to bring us to a solution to the real world. Also, I developed report writing skills, data collection skills, interviewing and critical analysis skills. From my personal reading, I realized that research skills involve research, predicting, and understanding the event, and sometimes extending and challenging the existing knowledge (Liamputtong, 2019). Therefore, the course is critical in expanding my research bounding. From the course, I have learned to make my research empirical, logical, cyclical, analytical, essential, and methodical, and reliable. According to Cohen et al. (2017), research should be reliable in that a researcher should get the same answer by using an instrument to measure something more than once. Also, I have learned that the research skill development was challenging due to lack of self-confidence, limited support, comfort zone, fear of failure/taking risks, and lack of relevant experience. Also, I realized my most significant setback was a lack of motivation and limited time (Cohen et al., 2017). However, with the great and reputable lecturer, knowledge obtained in this course, and various online courses, I have an excellent opportunity to advance my skills including report writing skills and data collection skills.

So What

“I agree with the first marker's feedback and was very impressed by your vast amount of knowledge for your chosen degree in BSc in Airline, Airport and Aviation Management. Liked how you linked what the course offers, rational based on advantages, rationale based on future prospects with the skills that you possess, skills that you require in the course and how your skills will be integrated with the course. You also did the same for the other degrees for BA Fashion Marketing and Business Management. I loved how you linked this degree with your home country of Bangladesh being the biggest garment industry country. You also spoke about the same things for course 1 and course 3-BSc Economics.”

From the feedback, I have learned that I have developed effective research and critical thinking skills. The presentation shows effective analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, self-regulation, open-mindedness, and problem-solving. The analysis is effective since it presents a chronological order with rigorous ideas and assumptions. Moreover, the idea presented creates arguments and findings that represent the entire picture. Also, the link of the degree with my home country of Bangladesh, being the biggest garment industry country, shows effective research skills, including the ability to locate, extract, organize, evaluate, and present information relevant to a particular topic. However, I could have added more details on other sectors of economy. From this topic, I realized that I have developed effective research skills and analytical skills, which have been taught thought the course.

“I disagree that some of your slides had too many words included in them. Good use of in-text citations for all of your presentation slides. Great Harvard Referencing list that is in alphabetical order. For your book reference for Pouratashi, M and Zamani, A., (2019) you forgot to include the place where the book was published (area name for e.g. Harlow).”

From the feedback, I realized that I have developed effective research skills, my skills are greatly improving, and regardless of some shortness, I have gained substantial knowledge in research. From the feedback, I have developed analytical skills, and I can analyze information from different sources. However, I need to improve on my references of sources that I use to conduct research. The feedback has improved my knowledge on effective source citation. Therefore, I have mastered locating, extraction, organizing, and evaluating information from various sources- research from the course.

“Your writing is clear and quite conversational. I am sure you will manage to improve it."

From the feedback, I have mastered presentation and writing skills. I have developed critical writing skills from the course, which enable me to present my thoughts clearly and conversationally. However, effective use of analytical skills would have improved my text. Similarly, I have developed my knowledge of writing clearly and in conversational way.

“Did you refect on the skills that you would need for studying economics?”

From the feedback, I have little reflection of personal skills needed to study economics. However, I have achieved writing text in critical way. The writing would be different if I applied my skills developed throughout the course. Therefore, my skills are now developed, and able to make critical inferences. However, the feedback is essential in educating me to use my skills effectively.

”A good analysis. Well done”

From the feedback, I have developed effective analytical skills. Therefore, the course has been effective in my development. This development is due to knowledge acquired in course. Therefore, it is evident that I have improved my understanding and knowledge in critical writing.

What next

Since my skills in, “what I have learned” are not well developed, I need to advance them to professional level. The following is my personal development plan;

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References

Allan, B., 2009. Study skills for business and management students. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Burns, T. and Sinfield, S., 2012. Essential study skills: The complete guide to success at university. Sage.

Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K., 2017. Research methods in education. Routledge.

Dumitrașcu, L.M., Feleagă, L. and Ionescu, B.Ș., 2021. Time Management and Time Utilization for Urology Surgeons, a Step in Implementing Social Responsibility, a Theoretical and a Practical Approach. In Business Revolution in a Digital Era (pp. 319-329). Springer, Cham.

Elder, L. and Paul, R., 2020. Critical thinking: Learn the tools the best thinkers use. Foundation for Critical Thinking. Springer.

Gallagher, K., 2016. Essential Study and Employment Skills for Business and Management Students. Oxford University Press.

Häfner, A. and Stock, A., 2010. Time management training and perceived control of time at work. The journal of psychology, 144(5), pp.429-447.

Köksal, D. and Ulum, Ö.G., 2018. Language assessment through Bloom’s Taxonomy. Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi, 14(2), pp.76-88.

Liamputtong, P. ed., 2019. Handbook of research methods in health social sciences. Singapore: Springer Nature.

Mantis, C., 2017. Testing Parkinson's Law in Auto-and Manually Graded McGraw Assignments. Elsevier Ltd

Ramsay, P., Maier, P. and Price, G., 2010. Study Skills for Business and Management Students. Longman.

Siegel, H., 2010. Critical thinking. In International encyclopedia of education (pp. 141-145). Elsevier Ltd.

Webster, T.L., 2018. Promotion of Critical Thinking in Students: An Examination of Current Educational Practices. Radiologic Science & Education, 23(2).